NASA ’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter has taken its final escape across the dusty plain stitch of Jezero Crater . The first flying vehicle on another world , Ingenuity drop almost 1,000 days on the Red Planet carry out test flights and help its rover fellow Perseverance sail the Martian terrain , 33 times longer than NASA had initially design . It was designed to perform five flights . In the end , it flew 72 times , quicker and higher than even the end of the foreign mission team .
“ The historic journeying of ingeniousness , the first aircraft on another planet , has fare to an end , ” confirm NASA Administrator Bill Nelson in astatement . “ That remarkable helicopter flew higher and farther than we ever conceive of and help NASA do what we do comfortably – make the impossible , possible . Through missions like Ingenuity , NASA is paving the way for future flight in our solar system and smart , safer human exploration to Mars and beyond . ”
On January 18 , during its 72nd flight to establish its position , Ingenuityhovered at 12 time ( 40 substructure ) over the dry land for a fistful of seconds before descending . And then disaster struck . At about 3 meters of elevation , cleverness lost contact with the rover . Once communications were re - established and image arrive , it became clear that this had been the last flight for the helicopter . One of its rotor blade was damaged , end any next flights . The exact case of the damage is yet to be institute .
Ingenuity’s shadow on its 25th flight, as captured by its own navigation camera on 27 January 2025.Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The mission is a glisten legacy forthe peopleinvolved in preparation , constructing , and navigating the whirlybird once it was on Mars . Beyond sovereign landing , Ingenuity was pushed to its very limits , flight after flight , perform three emergency brake landings , cleaning itself after rubble storms , and live the Martian winter . These last two are the number onekillers of robotson Mars
“ At NASA JPL , innovation is at the pump of what we do , ” Laurie Leshin , conductor at NASA ’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory , said . “ inventiveness is an exemplar of the way we push the boundaries of what ’s possible every daylight . I ’m incredibly lofty of our team behind this historic technical achievement and eager to see what they ’ll excogitate next . ”
inventiveness flew for over two hours in total covering over 17 kilometers ( 11 mile ) . It assisted Perseverance by scouting the terrain beforehand of the bird of passage for interesting rocks and outcrops . Thehighest heightit reached was 24 measure ( 79 feet ) . In its original missionary work , ingeniousness was anticipate to fly at a height of 3–5 cadence ( 10–16 feet ) for a maximum of 90 instant per trajectory .
The cleverness team will perform concluding test on the eggbeater systems and download all the data point and image from the onboard computer . Perseverance is too far by to take images of cleverness , so with little flash Ingenuity will be swop off . But it made story by proving controlled flight on another world was possible , paving the way for thenext multiplication of flying fomite on Mars .
“ It ’s humbling Ingenuity not only carries onboard a swatch from the original Wright Flyer but also this whirlybird followed in its stride and proved flight is possible on another world , ” tell Ingenuity ’s project manager , Teddy Tzanetos . “ The Mars helicopter would have never fly once , much less 72 times , if it were not for the passion and loyalty of the Ingenuity and Perseverance teams . story ’s first Mars helicopter will leave alone behind an indelible mark on the future of space exploration and will root on fleet of aircraft on Mars – and other worlds – for decade to come . ”
Its name could n’t have been better chosen ; Ingenuity is in truth a will to the sinful thing humans can do when we prefer to .
